Sounds like Murray's PAC must be getting desperate. Wasn't he pretty much assured a win by the Democratic rich boys club? Might be interesting if he loses to McGinn...

"Domestic-violence survivors have endured enough abuse without being used as props in a deceptive, ugly campaign."

Just as gays in Russia have endured enough abuse without being used as political pawns in a Seattle mayoral election. The Stranger didn't seem to care then, and it certainly didn't care when it attacked a long-time community advocate to try and push it's point. You can't cry fowl when you're doing the same thing.

I would expect nothing more from Murray's PAC. I'm a true-blue Dem but Murray does not deserve unconditional backing, especially after this Swiftboat ad.

Boy, the Murray admin is going to be really shitty. This guy's ethics are a mess.

Good post, Dominic. Thanks for setting the record straight.

This is a dirty smear, and it's telling that they're letting the PAC do this kind of work. The actual Murray campaign ought to denounce this, but I'm not optimistic.

Jesus Christ! I was really trying to prepare myself for not-hating the new mayor, but shit like this makes it hard.

@7) Actually, I never said that titles don't matter. You said that. I argued that they do matter: "Personally, it seems like we'd want this office to be readily identified by name." Reread the post.

Hooboy, this same Terri Kimball apparently laid into McGinn in a fiery comment to a publicola post on this last month. Murray has promised to reopen the department, and you have to wonder if he'll put her back in charge. Her comment's pretty epic, charging McGinn with having his PR chief gut all the experienced DV staff from the city payroll, not just mildly changing departmental titles. She closes with

Many people have been hurt as a direct result of the failure of leadership under Smith and Mayor McGinn, including victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Mayor McGinn's sudden interest and investment in domestic violence prevention is transparent and opportunistic. While I am delighted to see additional funding allocated to this important issue, the timing and pure political motivation is patently obvious.

http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profi…

"accurate but deeply misleading" -- seems to be the case for McGinn too:

- no new taxes for the arena. yes, BUT, $260M in tax revenues diverted to pay for it

- budget dollars to "Neighborhoods". yes, BUT, most of that targeted to downtown for signal timing.

- 37% increase in street maintenance. yes, BUT, that $10M is sand in the ocean of the $1.8B backlog.

- carbon neutral by 2050. yes, BUT, by not measuring all sources and buying offsets.

etc

This ad is disgusting.

I looked up this PAC on the city's ethics website. Looks like former Nickels deputy mayor Tim Ceis donated $5,000 of his time to put this disgusting ad together. They don't call him The Shark for nothing. Glad we gave him the boot 4 years ago and I'm looking forward to keeping him out again.

Tim Ceis wants to be back in city hall. That alone is enough reason to vote for Mayor McGinn!

@2: Actually, gays were never an issue in the Mayoral race, because both Murray and McGinn went to the protest. It was an issue in local politics because Sally Clark refused to answer the Russian Consulate's question as to what Seattle's official position was, because she didn't want to trample her talking point about how divisive McGinn is. Sally Clark was the one making them a pawn, rather than standing up to the Consul and answering their question.

@14 Nice try 14, but someone doesn't make someone a pawn by not brining them up in the first place.

It was seen by McGinn as a way to make headway into the gay vote, and rather than him saying "It's the position of the mayor's office," he chose to try and force Sally Clark to give himself visibility points. It was a bullshit attempt, and The Stranger went on the attack for their endorsed candidate. Sally Clark has been serving and supporting the LGBT community for quite a while. To try and paint her as someone who doesn't care about gays is ridiculous. I applaud her for not throwing us under the bus, and for dealing with an extraordinary amount of sexism from the gay community.

@15 I'm sorry that you view the world this way: "It was seen by McGinn as a way to make headway into the gay vote."

You don't put up an ad like this if you really are 20 points ahead. This election is a lot closer than the media thinks. And yeah, it's a pernicious and disgusting smear.

McGinn has always been a great ally of the gay community. I've spoken with him at several events and seen him speak at others. Murray may be more of a folk hero to the gay community, but I don't think we should stab our allies in the back to clear the way for him.

@15: I am not trying to portray her as that. All I said was that she was the one who created an issue, by refusing to do what the City Council does all the time: Pass a resolution condemning human rights abuses. Your reading of McGinn's motivations reflects more on you than him. Ultimately what would have gotten visibility is the pogrom of gays in Russia, not McGinn.

But yes, how dare McGinn take a stand on a pogram!

Of course Ed Murray is legally prohibited from controlling or communicating with this PAC so, at best, you can hope for him to say "that ad went overboard."

@21 Nice try. Look at the mayor's proposed budget here (.pdf): http://www.seattle.gov/financedepartment…

I can't stand Murray's meme of the Council running city government. The Council has largely adopted whole-cloth the budget proposals from McGinn. Sure they create a lot of noise about it (# of police officers, funding for domestic violence, road maintenance) but every single one of the mayor's budgets has gotten a 9-0 vote from the Council.

I've seen more debates than I can count, and if anybody is paying attention to those, there is no way Murray can win, nor should he. He hasn't earned the job, he isn't qualified for the job, and he barely acts like he wants it. If he does win, it will be an opportunity squandered and a chance to lead the nation wasted. Let's please not let that happen.

@18, well said. Loyalty should count for something.

@23: I was at the debate tonight at Lincoln School in Wallingford. McGinn won hands-down. Ed Murray was dull and clueless as usual, but there were fewer than 100 people in attendance. If Murray wins it will be due to voter apathy.

Ok kids - news-post, sentence correction time! Let's fill in the blanks:

1. "Well, as it turned out, the "Community and Self Sufficiency Division ____did not speak at all____ to abused women."

2. "But this attack from ____McGinn's____ backers is bogus by __leveling false claims of racism___ when ___none_____ exists.

3. ___Seattle civil rights community pioneers____ have endured enough ___discrimination___ without being used as props in a deceptive, ugly campaign.

This whole argument makes all sides -- The Stranger, McGinn, and Murray -- look dumb. Everybody wins!

1. The argument that bumping up strangulation assaults to felony level crimes has resulted in an increase in DV makes no sense. These cases were crimes before, they were just misdemeanors. So it's not like this would suddenly create a new group of victims that weren't there before. These crimes were being committed and reported before the change in the law. They're just treated more seriously now.

2. The change in the law occurred in 2007. McGinn took office in 2009. The increase in DV occurred -- apparently, because it's unclear -- in 2012. Claiming one of the reasons for a jump in DV last year is a law that changed in 2007 is tenuous, at best. And remember, the claim is that *DV* jumped, not just the specific type of case that came out of the change in the law.

3. If anybody thinks that shifting bodies around and combining departments makes somebody who wasn't going to commit a DV crime suddenly decide that they are going to commit a DV crime, they're an idiot. People who commit DV crimes are shitheads who don't know or care about whether someone is working in an office of domestic violence or in a community support and self sufficiency division.

4. This is politics. Priorities matter. And folding DV into something else instead of leaving it in its own high profile office is an indication of where you prioritize it, whether you like it or not.

So in the end, congrats to everybody, you've somehow accomplished the impossible and made yourselves all lose an argument at the same time.

@19 First, i never said that that's what you were trying to portray, but that is certainly what The Stranger was trying to portray.

Second, Where has McGinn been lately? The noise surrounding the Russian anti-propoganda laws has quieted and so has he. I never said that he personally doesn't care about the lives of LGBT, I just feel that he tried to take something very real and serious and use it to make political headway. If you think that that reflects poorly on my world view, so be it. I've been affiliated with politics for more than a decade now, and i get how it works. Whether I agree with the tactics or not. And no, I'm not a staffer or volunteer for either campaign. I actually haven't even donated to either.

McGinn is an incredibly divisive leader. That's been his strategy in the mayor's office, and it's been terrible. I'm not cheerleading Murray on the sidelines though. I'm critical of his ability, but at this point, I'm looking for more unity, less morale issues. Seriously, the departments at the city are a mess. People are frustrated beyond belief. This is exactly why Terri chose to make this ad. The level of frustration is through the roof.

Feel free to attack my approach. I'm not too concerned with what you think in regards to McGinn's intentions. I absolutely do not put it past him, and I'm incredibly frustrated that The Stranger would go after a community advocate who was simply trying to stay out of the mayoral race politics game.

@29 $63,000 is a big purse for 'a community advocate who was simply trying to stay out of the mayoral race politics game.'